4 ms·
If you're going 8 km/s in one direction (like you do when orbiting earth), changing direction even a bit is a big deal. That's why the space shuttle had those
by Gravityloss 4y ago
If you're going 8 km/s in one direction (like you do when orbiting earth), changing direction even a bit is a big deal.
That's why the space shuttle had those humongous wings and fragile thermal protection and why its payload ratio was lousy. To be able to go around once and land to the same spot it needed cross range and very good aerodynamics. It doesn't make sense to bring those wings to orbit just for that.
- Gravityloss 4y agoI calculated and changing plane at the pole enough to cause a 200 km shift at the equator would be about 250 m/s delta vee. So not actually impossible.
- Gravityloss 4y agoThe cross range would need to be around 1000 km for Kennedy Space Center... so a real problem.